Hazy days
by rneatpie
Summary: Eren is in his first year of university and everything is going how he had anticipated, but how long can this continue when he develops a crush on a certain short chain smoker. M for future chapters Warning: May be triggering, contains drug and alcohol use, sex scenes.
1. Chapter 1

Throwing his bag in the wooden storage compartment, identified as his by the E. Jaeger label peeling off the divider above Thomas Wagner's own section, Eren pinned on his name badge, cursing as he pricked his thumb doing so, and made his way as slowly as possible to the deli. A line of half a dozen or so customers huffing and tapping their feet impatiently as the new kid struggled to wrap up an order. Eren didn't know his name but he knew that he would have a long night ahead working alongside a newbie.

"Hi, here I'll help with that," he interrupted the struggling boys attempts and quickly packaged the ham into a neat bundle, offering the customer his apologies with a kind smile only to receive a glare in return. Hurriedly pulling on a pair of latex gloves, Eren resumed position behind the chilly counter.

From there the two boys worked as a team of sorts, no one suggested it but the novice collected and weighed the orders whilst Eren packaged them, giving every customer an apology and a smile to send them on their way and shortly the line was gone. Throughout the next half hour it became clear to Eren that Connie wasn't the brightest, but he was a nice guy and made a fair amount of jokes for someone that he had just met.

At around 8 when the customers slowed down enough, they practiced wrapping paper until an angry brunette stormed behind the counter and declared that she refused to work checkout anymore. Eren knew that arguing was futile and as he removed his gloves and cap, heard Sasha telling Connie all about the troubles of working checkout in loud detail and for a moment he felt sympathetic for the new kid, he had at least half an hour of Sasha to deal with.

A familiar twinge in the side of his head made Eren groan, it had been hours since his last smoke and he didn't get off work until closing time tonight. Taking over the vacant Counter 6, Eren was in charge of both checkout and tobacco sales, luckily it was a Thursday and both were relatively quiet at this time; however this allowed him to focus on the growing niggling in his brain and he rapped his fingers against the counter.

Soon he was one of the only two counters operating, he didn't recognise the other worker so they stood in content silence, both watching as the clock drew closer and closer to 10pm. At 9:30 Sasha and Connie began closing up the store, chatting happily as they did so. The indication of the near closing time relaxed Eren, and he opened the drawer top row, three in and pulled out a packet of Peter Jackson Blues, ringing them through the register and swiping his debit card. Unfortunately he made the mistake of checking his balance and grimaced as the disgracefully low number came up. "I'm so fucked this month," he thought, mentally chiding himself for spending most of his money in one week when payday wasn't for another fortnight.

Too busy wallowing in despair Eren didn't notice the boy standing at the counter until he coughed and shot him a look of disgust. "Sorry, how can I help you tonight?" he automatically blurted, taking in the boy's appearance. He couldn't have been older than 15 stature wise, short, relatively thin and adopted a stance that was simultaneously confident and defensive, his jet black hair styled in an undercut and a glare to kill.

"Peter Jackson Blues," he drawled, staring directly into Eren's eyes.  
"Do you have any I.D. on you?" Eren asked, he refused to stammer under the intense gaze. He didn't care about age, most of the teenagers in the city knew that and would always come in when they thought he would be working. The only reason he asked for I.D. was because of the security cameras monitoring every move, he rarely even glanced at the age. This time however he was curious as to the actual age of the customer in front of him, and had to hide any shock on his face when he discovered that Levi Rivaille was a year older than him.

Although he looked pissed off to be asked for I.D., Levi raked his bored eyes over the boy serving him, tapping his fingers against the counter as he did so. Average height, average build, average brown hair, average complexion – a relatively clear face but not totally devoid of pimples or blackheads, but his eyes.

He was turned away fetching the cigarettes from the drawer top row, three in, but he was continuously glancing back at Levi, as if to check he was still there. During these fleeting looks, Levi stared unashamedly at the orbs of fantastic emerald yet maintained an irritated expression, refusing to show any hint of interest.

Eren felt the heat of Levi's pewter eyes burning holes in the back of his neck as he fumbled with the cartons inside the drawer. He smiled lopsidedly as he placed the carton on the counter and waited for Levi to swipe his card. Sasha and Connie were walking to the back to get their things before heading home and waved to him as they continued talking, after a quick check that Levi's purchase didn't need confirmation yet, he waved back and felt the slightest bit smug about the opportunity to look popular in front of the raven haired customer.

As Levi neared the automatic sliding door, Eren wished him a good night. There was no response or indication that he had even heard it as he continued pulling out a cigarette, climbed gracefully into his car and flicked his lighter. It coughed and sputtered in a feeble attempt to empty its dwindling contents, and success. Drawing in deeply, Levi pulled his car out of the lot and let the tension out of his shoulders as he made his way down the road.

After deciding that it was close enough to 10pm to lock the store, Eren and the other worker, Ymir, locked the front door and wished each other a nice night as she moseyed to the bus stop and he clambered into his shitty second hand car and physically wound the window down with the handle. Imitating the scene he had just witnessed, Eren pulled out a smoke from the Peter Jacksons and lit it without as much issue as Levi had had, inhaling sharply as the ache in his head receded to a peaceful numb.

"Jesus Christ that guy was a prick," he murmured as he reversed from his parking space and made a mental list of all the things he had to do before his next lecture at 3pm tomorrow. He concluded to do the majority of his International Trade homework and study and in the morning he would work on his Global Geopolitics report.

He opened the white front door with the usual creak and lumbered up the immediate flight of stairs, his exhausted body screaming in protest and he had to haul himself up the whole 8 stairs using the railing. Pulling open the cabinet above his fridge, Eren pulled out a bottle of amber liquid that was half gone and mixed it with the last of his coca cola.

The welcome burn of the concoction helped Eren snap his focus to the coursework at hand and after 90 minutes he was nearly done. Stretching and deciding to do the rest some time before class tomorrow, Eren downed the contents of his third drink and after a quick trip to the bathroom, collapsed entirely gracefully on his bed, not bothering to get changed or pull the covers over him.

Meanwhile, Levi was basically mimicking Eren's exact actions. Despite Levi's rum being at a lower volume, he poured a lot more of the honey coloured liquid into his coke, and made a lot more trips to the cabinet for refills.

He didn't bother with his assigned homework, he knew he wouldn't have to work too hard to keep up with the cretins he now attended university with. A pre-prepared progression of Levi's evening was one he wasn't entirely dreading. Before he got too intoxicated he flicked through the textbooks for Biomedicine and concluded it was going to be a long but not terribly dull year. 

After a reasonable amount of alcohol had entered his system he pulled out the glossy and surprisingly heavy yearbook (an odd initiative for a university to be running in Levi's opinion) and went through the students, courses, extracurricular activities and upcoming events in the school.

Bored, exhausted and highly tipsy, Levi piled all of the reading materials in order from thickest to thinnest and placed them neatly on his desk before he blundered to the bathroom to haphazardly prepare for bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I decided to edit this chapter, sorry that I haven't updated in an inappropriate amount of time - got lazy. I will try to update atleast once or twice a month from now on. This is also my first fic and I have no real plan or plot for what I want to happen, so I'll pretty much just be making it up as I write. Thank you.**

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Sniggers from behind him caused Eren to jerk his head up, realising with discomfort that his hand and cheek were grossly damp. A quiet gasp of surprise escaped his mouth and he hastily wiped the drool from his cheek and mouth, glancing around to check if anyone had seen him. They had.

Jean Kirschtein and a couple of others were putting up a poor effort of stifling their laughter, and this didn't go unnoticed by their professor.

The room slowly quietened down and by the time that Reiner Braun realised, he was the only person in the entire room still daring to breathe.

"Care to share the joke Mr Braun?" their professor Keith Shadis - a visibly aged man with deep set eyes and a habit of cussing students out, inquired in a dangerously calm tone. Reiner perfectly resembled a deer in headlights undergoing a colonoscopy and swallowed before answering  
"I think Jean could better answer your question sir," in a clear voice that didn't reflect his terror.

All eyes turned to Jean and there were a few tuts around the room and Reiner knew he would be getting shit for this for a long time, a point further proven by the look Jean shot him. He looked capable of murder at this point. Professor Shadis raised one eyebrow

Relatively unfazed by this, Jean tossed up a few possible responses before deciding. "Eren Jaeger is making an ass of himself as usual sir, we were just watching him drown in his own drool." Almost the entire room broke out in laughter, Jean and Professor Shadis remained serious whilst Eren whirled around and glared at the "fucking horse faced ugly shit head" and compiled a list of all the different ways he could (and would) mangle his face.

The theatre quickly quietened down after the professor cleared his throat. "Eren Jaeger," booming reality ripped Eren around as he made eye contact with the professor. The professor that wasn't HIS professor.

"Oh. Oh shit" Kirschtein forgotten, Eren's usually sun kissed face was bleached of colour.

"Why doesn't that name sound familiar to me, could it be because you're not REGISTERED IN THIS CLASS!?" The class collectively shrunk into their seats and thanked their lucky stars they weren't the recipients of the impending tirade. After several minutes of complete silence, footsteps echoed through the lecture theatre, ricocheting off every wall until they came to a halt.

The following fifteen minutes were simultaneously beneficial yet dull for Levi (kind of like every other lecture) as he learnt some choice insults and swears from Shadis's astounding vernacular. He filled the first few lines of his previously untouched notebook with his favourites whilst drifting in and out of focus.

After many minutes of shouting, Levi realised he had no idea who the recipient was. It didn't surprise him as he hardly took any interest in most people, but he really needed to know who could have possibly been so daft as to have walked into the wrong lecture, not noticed, and actually fallen asleep.

He felt an odd respect for the brat, enduring such harsh public embarrassment without running out crying. Jean beside was shaking with laughter – which in turn made their seat shake which was really fucking annoying, as Eren turned around to glare at him briefly before he was reprimanded by Professor Shadis.

Levi stiffened and his eyes widened, albeit slightly, as he realised who the dumbass was. His hair was even messier from behind; the mussy hazelnut birds nest of natural highlights, un-brushed but clean hair was trailing a few centimetres over the back of his neck.

Feeling the a familiar, unparalleled glare burning the nape of his neck, Eren felt ill when he couldn't turn around and identify the perpetrator, it was making him physically uncomfortable not being able to know who was staring at him_ and _being publicly humiliated by a middle aged man.

Thankful for the end of a lecture like never before, something Eren never thought possible after the time Professor Dok talked about utilitarianism in the 9th century, after a few finishing insults from Shadis, he practically sprinted out of the room. Levi paused from packing away his stationery to watch the lanky teens' body disappear through the door, and resumed with the ghost of a memory of a smile on his lips.


	3. Chapter 3

A wave of chilled air raised the hair on Levi's arms as he stepped into the store, and he inwardly groaned at the unwelcome temperature drop. Fumbling with the handles of the black plastic basket as he lifted it off the stack, he inhaled the scent of the unnatural metallic air and the crispness of the fresh produce section. Rehearsed lines invaded Levi's mind as he perused the aisles, taking his time as he read the ingredients of various items.

Realising that he had been procrastinating, he checked his shopping list and darted off to grab his various items, adamantly refusing to overthink what he was about to do.

Although nervous, Levi refused to let this show and kept his usual bored look as he approached Counter 6, not even letting his demeanour falter when the brunette behind the desk wasn't Eren. A shock of freckles and boredom, spouting out a rehearsed and dull greeting; it was at this moment Levi realised he hated her.

Before she could start scanning his items, he quickly read her name tag and slammed his basket onto the counter before loudly protesting.

"Up yours Ymir. _Ymir_," he repeated mockingly, "What kind of name is that?" The two sustained eye contact for a drawn out and tense 30 seconds before Levi turned on his heel and stormed out of the air conditioned store, muttering the whole way about "drunk hippie parents."

He slammed the car door a little too forcefully and for a moment was worried he had caused some damage to the vehicle. But this was soon forgotten as he tore a cigarette from its carton and reversed out of the narrow parking space.

The set up inside the 7/11 was much less favourable. The flimsy, commercial products were all in the wrong places, the air was stagnant and too cold, everything was more expensive, but at least the guy behind the counter didn't try to card Levi as he purchased necessities, cigarettes and an energy drink at a gas station. Even though he was much less attractive than a certain cashier that Levi would have preferred.

As Levi walked to the car, he shook his head and mentally scoffed at 'Ymir' one final time. Before pulling out of the car park, he found the conveniently named Erwin Aasmith, how fortunate that Erwin was blessed with a name that made him appear first in Levi's contacts. Entirely coincidentally.

"Hey Levi, do you have any lectures today?" Erwin disliked small talk too, this was a thing Levi highly appreciated about the man.  
"No."  
"Do you want me to come over?"  
"If you want"  
"I'll just shower and come right over then."  
Levi cut off whatever else Erwin was possibly about to say and switched on the radio as he reversed out of the parking space.

**A/N: A really short update but I assure you the next chapter will be magnificent and also thank you for putting up with my bad updating schedule. (bad as in I don't have one)**


	4. Chapter 4

Setting down his small black tin, Levi reclined into his couch and stared at the tv as nickelodeon played. He snapped open the lid of his energy drink and took a few sips before he scooted over to Erwin, who was still working through his joint.

As he snuggled into the larger man's body, Levi took another drink, it was only when he felt some liquid spill onto his chin that he realised he forgot to stop drinking.

Erwin offered him the remainders of the dwindling joint and Levi graciously accepted, holding back a cough as he handed it back and resumed his position in Erwin's chest. Soon after, Erwin wrapped his arm around him and time passed swiftly as they enjoyed the cartoons.

Levi was the first to break the monotony, standing and snatching up a carton from the cedar coffee table as he moseyed to the balcony. The sliding glass door clicked loudly as he shut it and lit a cigarette as he leaned on the railing and enjoyed the smoke sliding down his throat.

He giggled as he thought of things sliding down his throat, and turned around to examine Erwin and the possibilities that lay with him. A few moments of deliberation slid by until Levi eventually sighed and returned to his cigarette. Some things are only for the imagination he decreed as he stamped his cigarette butt into the overflowing ashtray.

Upon returning to the lounge room, clutching a packet of original salt chips which he threw at Erwin with a "Nyeeee" before collapsing into him again and resuming his favourite position.

"Do you have salsa?" Erwin mumbled into Levi's hair  
"Mmn," a few seconds passed before he finished his sentence, "in the fridge. If you want it get it yourself."

No one moved.

After much hitting and insults, Erwin was begrudgingly feeding Levi chips as he surfed through the tv channels. Settling on a romcom, Levi's mind drifted to his outburst earlier in the day. He _almost _felt sorry for Ymir, after all it wasn't her fault her parents came up with such a stupid name.

Would she tell Eren about the crazy, short guy that abused her? Maybe warning him in case Levi returned when Eren was working on the check out.

After realising that she probably would and that Eren would now think of him as a psychopath made Levi regret the paroxysm, which he put down to the fact that Eren might tell other students.

Thoughts of Eren kept ricocheting around his head, and Levi wondered what the brunette was doing at this moment.  
"Erwin, you drove over here, right?" Levi grumbled  
"Yeah, of course,"  
"Can we run to the college just quick? I think I left something there." Levi sometimes felt bad for always making Erwin drive whilst stoned – the guy was a lawyer. The repercussions of being caught doing so would ruin his life forever, but it would ruin Levi's too and he knew which one he'd prefer.

"What did you leave?" Erwin inquired softly, his breath tickled Levi's hair.  
"My… laptop." He had to improvise somehow after all.  
"It's on the desk." Levi could have kicked himself.  
"I meant my charger. I left my charger in a theatre."  
"Oh, yeah then we'd better get going," planting a kiss on Levi's head, Erwin wriggled out from underneath him and pulled his keys out of his pocket. Levi cringed and pulled a face at the kiss, but made sure Erwin didn't see, the way that he tried to make his affection seem casual was what annoyed Levi the most.

Levi formulated a plan on the way to the college. He knew for a fact that the cute guy in his Biomed class, Jean, took Geopolitics with Eren. He also knew for a fact that Jean had a Geopolitics essay due today, at 4:30pm.

After a quick glance at his watch which read 3:52pm, Levi devised a way to keep Erwin busy. What he didn't expect was for Erwin to pull into a car space at the very far corner of the car lot – to avoid hitting other cars in his current state, he clarified, and loudly announce that he was starving and was going to get tacos.

Joining him at the campus Mexican takeaway food store, Levi sat on a hard plastic white chair, still warm from the person before him, and brushed their crumbs off of the outdoor table before setting down his bean burrito and watching the flow of students in the courtyard.

With a jolt, Levi realised that he was sitting on a public seat, which had not been cleaned before he sat and ate his food off it. He could feel the germs crawling on his fingers, and rubbed them furiously with his napkin, but this offered no release and he had left his hand wipes in his backpack at home.

He offered Erwin only a nod as he stood and rushed to the nearest bathroom, scrubbing viciously until his hands and arms felt sanitary again. Waiting until someone came in the door so that he wouldn't have to touch it, Levi shook his hands dry, wary of the hand dryers and their germs.

Whilst waiting, he glanced in the mirror and laughed at the redness of his eyes. He would have to wait until he got back to the table to put on his sunglasses.

Finally someone entered and Levi caught the door on his foot before wriggling out.

Walking leisurely with the flow of students, Eren was listening to one of Historia's amicable stories as they made their way through campus, heading towards Geopolitics. He faltered momentarily in his step as he recognised the arranged sheets of liquorice tumbling down the creamy pale skin, a cigarette dangling from his spindly fingers.

'He goes here?' Eren was taken aback and tuned out of Historia's story as he realised Levi was sitting with a man. A tall, well built, blonde, very attractive man. Eren could see the beauty in his light azure eyes; however he could also see that they were glazed over and focused on nothing in particular.

As if he felt him looking, Levi turned his head and swept his eyes over the crowd, although if he saw Eren he either didn't recognise him or didn't react. Erwin said something across the table, and Eren felt his jaw slacken as Levi threw back his head and laughed vivaciously, revealing a line of perfect white teeth.

"Eren are you listening?" the chirpy voice interrupted his staring and he turned to acknowledge the blonde beside him.  
"Yeah of course," he smiled at Historia and resumed listening to her story, nodding and gasping at the right times until they arrived at the door to the lecture theatre.  
"Are you telling that story again, angel face," came a voice from behind Eren.  
"Gross Ymir learn the rules of PDA you lezzo," he pulled a face as Ymir wrapped her arms around Historia's waist from behind and kissed her cheek.  
Behind her girlfriend's back, Ymir flipped Eren off and poked out her tongue as Historia grinned and continued her story as the three walked into the lecture theatre and pulled out their laptops before resuming conversation as the other students gradually filed in.

The professor called through the roll in alphabetical order and each student clambered down to the desk, some with nervous smiles and a few pages, some with a handful of neatly arranged and a confident gait. Some stuttered up with an excuse and sweat patches, only to be told to leave the room and only come back when they have an essay.

Eren pitied them, the essay wasn't easy after all, and Professor Dok was being quite harsh in his opinion. Eventually class settled down and learning resumed, notes were hastily scribbled and heads fell sleeping on hands.

Eren himself started feeling himself slipping out of consciousness, the lecture was increasing in dullness and Eren was increasing in fatigue. The door clicked shut and the class turned groggily to look at the latecomer.

The only issue being that it wasn't a latecomer.


	5. Chapter 5

In order to be a latecomer, the person slipping through the door just now would have to be scheduled to arrive. So it can be concluded that the shadow moving around the room was not in fact a latecomer, but an intruder.

"What are you doing?"  
The intruder froze and turned, their face blank of any emotion despite being caught sneaking into a lecture. Eren sat up with a jolt as he recognised Levi, but what on earth was he doing here?

"I left my wallet in this theatre, I came urgently to collect it as soon as I realised." If he was nervous, neither Levi's face nor voice gave it away. His monotonous voice was tinged slightly with sarcasm, but it also induced sexual tension regardless of what he said.

Professor Dok reacted rather understandingly, and allowed Levi to search for his wallet whilst continuing the lecture. After a few minutes of silent scrambling around in the very back of the lecture, Levi slowly travelled down the rows of chairs until arriving at the one Eren was sitting in.

Muttering insincere apologies as he slid through the mostly full row of chairs before arriving at the one Jean was in, three seats away from Eren. Levi nodded at Jean, indicating that he was about to check around him for his 'missing wallet.'

With a quick glance at Eren, he knelt and whilst groping under the chair in hopes of finding it, his face was 'accidentally' placed immediately between Jean's knees. With a groan, Levi stretched further under the chair, clawing for nothing, and his face as a result was thrust further between Jean's legs, his cheek grazing the boy's sunkissed thigh.

Jean tensed and gasped as Levi turned his face directly into his crotch. Levi stood and shrugged, indicating that his search had yielded no results, and in his peripherals he saw Eren gaping wide eyed and slackened jaw. Jean glanced at Jean and saw the rosy flush spreading over his cheeks and his ears flaming red.

"One last check," Levi breathed directly into Eren's ear, pressing his chest into shoulder to do so.  
Eren visibly tensed, obviously preparing for the same thing he had seen happen to Jean, the flush already glowing on his cheek.

Crouching and planting his hand firmly on Eren's knee, he slyly reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet before pretending to search briefly beneath the chair.

He stood and stared unwaveringly above Eren's head, refusing to acknowledge him or make eye contact. Promptly snapping himself into correct posture and sliding out of the door through which he entered, Levi was gone in much the same manner he had arrived. All eyes on him and some of the student's breathing heavily, crossing their legs and readjusting pants.

Eren moved to pull his shirt down until he saw Jean doing the same out of the corner of his eye. He cast Jean a shit eating grin and raised his eyebrows suggestively – Jean was visibly fuming.

Actively attempting to force thoughts of rippling black hair and steeled grey eyes from his focus and pay attention to the lecture, Eren hastily wrote everything Dok was saying in an effort to stay on track.

He failed.

Miserably.

Thoughts of Levi kept running through his mind, thoughts of pearly perfectly aligned teeth, thoughts of creamy cheeks with a barely visible pink splotch pressed so close to his face, thoughts of long and capable fingers clamping his kneecap, thoughts of a mocking, monotonous baritone voice in his ear.

The list dragged on, and as did the lecture. Eren didn't notice that as much though. When they were finally dismissed, he collected his books and singular pen before rushing into the afternoon sun and continuing to his dorm on the other side of campus.

After a brief check for his roommate, Reiner, Eren tossed his bag onto the unmade green duvet before snapping open his laptop and pulling up Facebook. Ignoring his two unread messages, he directed his attention to the search bar and hesitantly typed 'Levi' before hitting enter. There was a moment of white loading screen, and Eren's heart paused for the duration of its two second presence.

Scrolling through the first two pages of results, despair filed into Eren's mind and, in resignation, he typed up half-hearted replies to his messages from Mikasa and Ymir. A sudden bout of exhaustion rolled over him and in turn, Eren rolled over and took a nap.

A five hour nap.

He was woken by Reiner bursting through the door with Bertholdt in tow, before Eren could so much as raise his head, the door was slammed shut again, with Reiner being pushed against it by Bertl. Eren paused for a moment as he gaped at Reiner's travelling hands and small hip rolls against his towering boyfriend.

"Oh hey guys, no its cool don't let me interrupt," Eren grumbled sleepily and sarcastically.

With a surprised yelp, Bertholdt broke away from Reiner in lightning speed, shyly covering his mouth, sweat already beading on his forehead.

"Sorry man, figured you'd be out 'coz it's a Friday night n all." Reiner shrugged apologetically and had his hand on the doorknob, probably about to go to Bertl's room.

"You guys stay, I'll just shower and be gone I promise. Think you guys can keep your hands off of each other for those five minutes?" He chuckled but it was a nervous and lacklustre one, because he knew that no, they could not keep their hands off of each other for those five minutes.

Upon returning to the room, he rapped lightly on the door before entering and seeing a flushed Bertoldt sitting almost atop Reiner. He winked at his roommate before pulling on an outfit from the miniscule pile of clean clothes on his cheap plastic drawers. Putting clothes away was so much more hassle than having them conveniently on top.

Tousling his hair briefly in the mirror below Reiner's calendar, Eren wished them a fantastic night and walked back through the campus to the bus stop. The fare to the city centre ending up costing him $2.30 more than usual due to the fact that he forgot his student card.

There were only a few clubs that allowed people under 21 in on this side of the city, but the ones that did were often cheap and populated with people his age, most of them fellow Trost University students on a Friday like tonight.

He leisurely made his way to the closest one – the most popular one – dragging on a cigarette as he joined the moderately sized queue. After stamping the butt beneath his Converse, he pulled out wallet and retrieved his ID and the admission money.

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**A/N: This story is now available on AO3 under the same name, and written by rneatpie. Thank you for reading!**


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